Bottling wine in mason jars?

[nickbrew]

Bottling my citrus green-tea wine tomorrow, it has been stabilized.

Thinking of using mason jars to bottle, I need to buy some anyways and I figure I might as well get a duel-purpose out of them if I can.

I understand that you need to give them a hot water bath to create the vacuum, and since it has been stabilized there is no problem with carbonation or bottle bombs.

Anyone have any experience with this? Will the process of the hot water bath impact my batch?

 

[ruralbrew]

You don't really need a vacuum. Bottles don't have one.

Just sanitize everything and screw the caps on tight and you should be good to go.

 

[nickbrew]

I thought I needed the vacuum for a perfect seal. I guess it's not necessary since im not carbonating?

 

[ruralbrew]

The lids will seal well if there aren't any chips in the rim of the jars.

I have used them for beer and didn't have a problem as long as the lids were tight. Although the wide mouth jars don't work as well if you are carbonating.

 

[nickbrew]

Yeah I won't even try with beer just from what i've heard about carbonation problems. But this seems like a nice simple solution for my wine. Thanks

 

[bernardsmith]

I think the there might be a downside to using mason jars and that is the amount of surface area exposed to air. If you have made a small batch of wine and don't intend to age the wine for any length of time I don't see any real problem but if you intend to age the wines for a year or so then the amount of surface area is relatively speaking quite large and you may find the wine will tend to show signs of oxidation. There is a reason why wine bottles have narrow necks and the bottles are filled close to the mouth ...

 

[jwalker1140]

I think the there might be a downside to using mason jars and that is the amount of surface area exposed to air. If you have made a small batch of wine and don't intend to age the wine for any length of time I don't see any real problem but if you intend to age the wines for a year or so then the amount of surface area is relatively speaking quite large and you may find the wine will tend to show signs of oxidation. There is a reason why wine bottles have narrow necks and the bottles are filled close to the mouth ...

This was my initial thought too.

I'm not sure what citrus green-tea wine is. I've only made wine from grapes where oxidization is a serious concern. Maybe you could fill the jars up to the tippy top to minimize the amount of oxygen in the headspace, but it just seems like the wrong tool for the job to me.

 

[nickbrew]

This was my initial thought too.

I'm not sure what citrus green-tea wine is. I've only made wine from grapes where oxidization is a serious concern. Maybe you could fill the jars up to the tippy top to minimize the amount of oxygen in the headspace, but it just seems like the wrong tool for the job to me.

Essentially it was wine made from steeped green-tea, a lemon, an orange, yeast + nutrient and sugar. I didn't think about oxidization...They are all in mason jars now and sitting in a cold room (45-50F) and will stay there. So whatever will be happening to them will at least be at a slow rate I hope.

 

[mgonbrewlab]

Sounds like something that could be enjoyed young. Probably no concern up to a year or so.

I have begun doing this and reserve 1-2 mason jars of each batch that I can use for blending, topping up other batches, and cooking.